The invention relates generally to land-mobile weapons platforms. In particular, this invention relates to a weapons turret that enables concurrent operation of decoupled projectile-launchers that operate using separate targeting operations.
Conventional weapon system concepts, such as the Up-Gunned Weapon Station (UGWS) on the United States Marine Corps (USMC) AAVP7A1 amphibious assault vehicle, mount weapons that fire munitions of a high-velocity, low-angle (also called “flat”) trajectory nature (e.g., 0.50 cal M2HB) and weapons that fire lower-velocity munitions subject to large corrections required for range and deflection of the projectiles (e.g., 40 mm MK 19).
The deflection for low-velocity munitions is mainly caused by the “drift” of the projectile while in free flight. The dynamics of a free-flight projectile, especially a spin-stabilized one, induces a motion called drift along the line-of-travel. This arrangement to employ weapons that fire projectiles that behave very different from each other while in free flight degrades an operator's ability to efficiently sight on a target and engage simultaneously with both weapons.
High-velocity, flat-trajectory weapons, such as the .50 caliber M2HB machine gun, require a line-of-sight (LOS) to the target through which the operator sights the weapon and engages the target by aligning the weapon's gun bore-line along the LOS with very small adjustments for drift and compensating for the range by making small elevation adjustments to the weapon. The fired projectiles then fly-out to the target along this general LOS to the target.
This enables a sighting-and-ranging system to be directly coupled to the high-velocity, flat-trajectory weapon. For purposes of this disclosure, this is referred to as an LOS weapon that fires an LOS projectile. As the sight is trained and elevated, the LOS weapon follows the sight direction, adjusting for minor elevation corrections for range-to-target that can be achieved by the turret.
Weapons that fire low-velocity, high-deflection munitions do not follow the LOS to the target and must employ a combination of large elevation and train adjustments to deliver its projectile onto the target. For purposes of disclosure this type is referred to as a deflection weapon. This motion is of such magnitude for particular weapon types (e.g., mortar) that were the deflection weapon sighted along the LOS to the target and a round fired, the projectile would consistently miss the target to one side due to the drift of the projectile, thereby constituting a bias error. An excellent example of this is the 40 mm MK 19 automatic grenade launcher.
The current UGWS weapon system apparatus has the operator utilizing a single sighting system for both weapons, which are tied to the same elevation and train-drive mechanisms. Due to the vastly different ballistic properties of the ammunition types used, the operator must complete a complex series of movements and adjustments in order to range-the-target and sight both weapons properly.
Because the dissimilar weapons are tied to the same elevation and training drives along with the single sighting system, the operator cannot bring both weapons to bear on the target at the same time. Instead, the operator must bring the weapons to bear sequentially, thus consuming valuable time in combat situations. This reduces overall system effectiveness as half of the weapons suite cannot be used in a specific engagement sequence.